Antwaun Woods, however, has another idea. A documentary. The USC lineman even has a title for it.

“30 For 30,” he said Wednesday. “The Aftermath.”

And who says defensive tackles are just sprawling, beefy immovable objects meant to occupy space and get in the other team’s way? Woods is proof that some of them also possess senses of humor to match their impressive dimensions.

I’m guessing ESPN, which this season released 30 For 30: “Trojan War” revisiting the Pete Carroll years, is unlikely to produce a second USC-themed film based on the results of the Pac-12 title game.

But Woods does have a point. As unlikely as it once appeared that the Trojans could reach the conference finale Saturday, a victory now over Stanford would be worth capturing on video, if only for the sake of forever.

“We had the goal, of course, of playing for a championship,” USC safety John Plattenburg said. “It got a little blurry in there for a while. But now, we know. We know we’ve got the opportunity to make history.”

The Trojans, four losses and all, completely unranked for one five-week stretch this season, still have a chance to win the Pac-12 title and earn a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Though the accomplishment wouldn’t crack the all-time list for a program with 11 national championships, six Heisman Trophy winners and several states’ worth of All-Americans, it would complete a remarkable recovery for a team that was staggering just a few weeks ago.

It also would officially usher in the era of Clay Helton, the former interim head coach who was appointed to the job full-time this week, just in time to attempt to rally the Trojans to victory over an opponent they lost to in September under old coach whatever-his-name-was.

“Honestly, that seems like a whole different season to me,” Plattenburg said. “I’m just glad we get the opportunity to show how much we’ve progressed, how much we’ve grown and matured as a team.”

And isn’t it amazing what can happen in sports when we let the games dictate things? When all matters big and small are resolved on the field instead of, let’s just say, by some committee sitting around debating how pretty Iowa looked in victory?

Now with an actual system for its playoffs, college football clearly has evolved the past couple seasons. I’d say the sport today is up to 1950 or so.

Four teams still aren’t enough, but that’s better than someone like me – a sportswriter perhaps with an agenda and probably with a hangover – helping to identify which team is superior among two opponents that never played each other and never had any chance of playing each other.

Yes, the college football playoff field can be expanded only so much because of logistics. But just think about the absurdity of this:

Winning a national title involves a bunch of stuff being determined off the field while winning only a conference title can require not only proving everything on the field but proving everything on the field twice.

Stanford, as mentioned above, already beat USC. Now, the Pac-12 is demanding that the Cardinal validate that September win, much to the benefit – not to mention the delight – of the Trojans.

This isn’t USC’s fault, of course, not in the least bit. That’s just how things work now in these individual conferences.

But the situation sure seems curious when juxtaposed to a system in which the games are played on Saturday but the ultimate results of those games aren’t shared until Tuesday and then on a television show of all things.

“That first game doesn’t matter now,” Woods said, thinking back to Stanford’s 41-31 victory at the Coliseum. “I don’t remember much about it, to be honest. I just know we get a second chance at these guys and we’re looking forward to it.”

Specifically, there really isn’t much to remember about the game because it was pretty much like most Stanford games. The Cardinal used tons of physicality to pound away in a maddeningly disciplined manner until simply overcoming the Trojans in the second half.

Not to give USC an unfair scouting advantage or anything, but Stanford will bring the exact same game plan Saturday to Santa Clara, along with an abundance of formations and men in motion in an attempt to confuse and exploit certain matchups.

“It’ll be a big-man’s game,” said Woods, who, at 6-foot-1, 320 pounds, should fit right in. Woods even wears the biggest jersey number available: No.99.

“We’re going to have to stay disciplined because we know that’s how they’re going to play,” he said. “Whoever plays disciplined the longest is going to win.”

And I really do believe that could be the Trojans. As odd as their season has been so far, why not?

Maybe ESPN should consider a second documentary. If the result of this game is jarring enough, there’s another possible title – 30 For 30: “The Aftershock.”

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.

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